View Full Version : Geocaching Pet Peeves



IntotheWoods
07-03-2004, 06:22 PM
I have been an avid cacher for almost 2 years now. I love the hunt--the outdoors, the challenge, the competition. However, there are a few things that bother me about the game today...here they are, and I look forward to hearing yours...

--Cachers who find, find, find without placing, placing, placing caches. For example, there's one NYC-area cacher whose find-hide ratio is 2775:5. Give back to the community!

--Caches that are left 'temporarily unavailable' for months. Either fix it or archive it!

--Cachers that consistently trade down. I've seen the contents of some of my caches go from great to mediocre thanks to people who take the best stuff and leave crap. If you can't trade evenly or up, TNLN!

--The moratorium on virtual caches. Enough is enough--TPTB need to realize that there are some spots where you just CAN'T put a micro.

That's all for now...I'm not usually a complainer, but these are a few things that bother me in an otherwise great community of cachers. Let's hear your thoughts!

IntotheWoods :)

danosphere
07-03-2004, 09:58 PM
IntotheWoods;

Please don't take this personally, but this is in regards to your lament on one's find/place ratio.

Currently, my find/place ratio is 125:0. As an active duty sailor, I am 'from away' and thus non-native to Mid-coast Maine. Believe me, if I knew the area like the local cachers, I would be putting them out too. For example, I would never have gone down the road to your hide Railroad Ramble unless there was an approved cache there. I spied the sign for Bliss Woods after doing the and was doing some research on it, but lo and behold my geo-nemesis BlueGrassGyrl beat me to it ;) I have a canoe now, so maybe I can place one on an island or two :eek: I am in the process of adopting the LaVerna preserve cache, but there are still some land ownership issues that are not settled. I suppose I could dump some silly micros out like they do in North Florida, but what is the joy in that? I think the vast majority of the local caches here are of high quality and have been worth the time put in. I would not want any cache I put out to be any less than equal to what is already out there.

My peeve are cachers who hide a dozen or so caches and only have a few finds themselves. Comments?

attroll
07-03-2004, 10:35 PM
IntotheWoods;
My peeve are cachers who hide a dozen or so caches and only have a few finds themselves. Comments?I can relate to that statement. I did a multi cache that really turned me off to multi caching. I have no desire right now to do another multi cache because of the one I did. I hated it. I will not go into detail on it. But after I got home from doing the multi cache I looked at the users profile that did the multi cache and he only had six caches to his name and I just looked and he has not done one since and it has been quite a while. I think it should be a pre requisite to have so many finds before you can place a caches.

IntotheWoods
07-04-2004, 01:19 AM
Totally in agreement, gents. I believe a cacher should have at least 10 cache finds before he/she is allowed to place a cache...it would solve a lot of problems!

brdad
07-04-2004, 05:40 AM
I agree with IntotheWoods, except for:

The hide/find ratio - If the ratio stays consistent, the number of placed caches will grow incredibly, and before we know it cache desity is more than people density. I'm not sure, but I am allready getting to the point where I think Maine's cache density might be more than I care for very soon. I don't mind driving a few miles for quality - right now Maine has some great caches. And less fact it, we all have different abilities when it comes to hiding caches - some can hide a decent cache without never finding one, others ... well, maybe should never be hiding any! No offense to anyone - I think all Maine caches placed by people near to our state have done well hiding.


The moratorium on virtual caches - the is no moratorium on virtual caches! The moratorium is on locationless caches. You can still place a virtual, but it just needs to be very worthy. With a little imagination and effort, you can use the "less than perfect according to gc.com" virtuals a stage of a multi, such as I did with my battleship cache.

parmachenee
07-04-2004, 03:37 PM
--Cachers who find, find, find without placing, placing, placing caches. For example, there's one NYC-area cacher whose find-hide ratio is 2775:5. Give back to the community!

I would oppose a ratio because it would deter people from becoming cachers thinking "big brother" is watching all the time. GC.COM is doing a quality job managing the "rules" and adding a management issue like this would be very cumbersome to oversee and enforce. The other reason is that many people become fervent cachers in the first months of caching but for many varied reasons lose interest or just have other priorities. The potential caches they have placed would no longer be maintained.

--Cachers that consistently trade down. I've seen the contents of some of my caches go from great to mediocre thanks to people who take the best stuff and leave crap. If you can't trade evenly or up, TNLN!

Murphy's cache rule #267: The amount of junk a cache accumulates is directly proportional to the amount of visits it has received.
:rolleyes:
I know what you mean. We visited a cache yesterday with a half-smoked cigar in it and had someone put a used tube of lipstick in one of ours.

WhereRWe?
07-05-2004, 08:37 AM
I agree with Intothewoods about cachers who find a few caches, then think they have enough experience to know what contitutes a good cache. I didn't place my first cache until I'd found about 40, and then I thought I knew what a good cache contained, what container was good, how to hide a cache, and what good dirctions and hints were.

And MY pet peeve: microcaches EVERYWHERE and ANYWHERE. (But that subject has been discussed before...)

Haffy
07-05-2004, 09:41 AM
I too waited til I had a number of caches under my belt before I hid my first one.I think maybe almost 100. I had wanted to hide one long before that but I wanted my first one to be well thought out and planned and somewhere special that would be appreciated by all the people that found it. I think I succeeded in that first endeavor from the comments that I received thus far. I do plan on hiding more in the future but the same procedure will go into my 2nd as my 1st. It has to be somewhere special that other people will appreciate as much as I do. There are slim pickens it seems in my area but I will hopefully find a place that comes up to my expectations,if not then finding others will have to do for now. Just my 2 cents

parmachenee
07-05-2004, 06:50 PM
I didn't place my first cache until I'd found about 40, and then I thought I knew what a good cache contained, what container was good, how to hide a cache, and what good dirctions and hints were.

Which further supports, not supports, the cache find/place ratio. I totally agree you should be PREPARED to place a cache...have knowledge of what a GOOD cache is, and be willing to MAINTAIN it, but not be required to place a cache based on numbers.

Pooh and friends
07-05-2004, 08:05 PM
A problem I have run into is not being able to obtain permission to place a cache, espically if it is on town owned or managed land. There seems to be to much politics involved and I wonder if a lot of caches are just placed on a dont ask, dont tell basis. :cool:

IntotheWoods
07-05-2004, 10:45 PM
There seems to be to much politics involved and I wonder if a lot of caches are just placed on a dont ask, dont tell basis. :cool:

Absolutely.

WhereRWe?
07-10-2004, 08:08 AM
I'm a "Municipal Officer", and while I don't think we'd grant formal permission to place a cache on Town land - liability questions and all that - I'm pretty sure we wouldn't worry about it if we knew there WAS a cache on Town land...

State land, however, is fair game as far as I'm concerned. :p

Geomaineiacs
07-12-2004, 09:51 PM
I'm a "Municipal Officer", and while I don't think we'd grant formal permission to place a cache on Town land - liability questions and all that - I'm pretty sure we wouldn't worry about it if we knew there WAS a cache on Town land...

State land, however, is fair game as far as I'm concerned. :p


Great response!

The G Team
07-13-2004, 09:56 PM
Caches with (significantly) incorrect coordinates! Of course, GPSrs will vary, and satellites will be off, but please! 100ft. off as mentioned by multiple finders and never updating the coords is bad form, IMHO.

Verifying coords on a least a couple of different occasions *before* submitting the cache for approval is a very good idea. And if coords prove to be incorrect, cache data should be updated in a timely fashion.

Now I feel better ;)

Cache Maine
07-13-2004, 10:23 PM
Caches with (significantly) incorrect coordinates! Of course, GPSrs will vary, and satellites will be off, but please! 100ft. off as mentioned by multiple finders and never updating the coords is bad form, IMHO.

Verifying coords on a least a couple of different occasions *before* submitting the cache for approval is a very good idea. And if coords prove to be incorrect, cache data should be updated in a timely fashion.

Now I feel better ;)
I couldn't have said it better myself!!!

tat
07-14-2004, 07:18 PM
I've been following this thread for awhile and haven't had the time to respond. But, today, I'm sitting in ABE airport for probably a looooong time, so here goes!

I usually get kind of ticked off by the same things you mentioned, but then I try to think about the big picture.

First, people are mostly good, with good intentions. There's use discussing the deviant people who are intentionally distructive because that is not your pet peave.


--Cachers who find, find, find without placing, placing, placing caches. For example, there's one NYC-area cacher whose find-hide ratio is 2775:5. Give back to the community!

This would only be a problem if there were too few caches. In most places, there are already too many caches. Perhaps a better way to give back is to try to fix the problems and minor anoyances. For example, instead of placing a new cache, give an old cache a new container, log book etc. Leave more entertaining logs in the log book or on the web site.


--Caches that are left 'temporarily unavailable' for months. Either fix it or archive it!

Let's face it, no one can maintain a cache forever. And few if any, will seek and find someone to adopt. We should be thankfull that someone has taken the time to show a great new place. Of course, I am one of those people who put a higher value on the place rather than the rest of the game.

--Cachers that consistently trade down. I've seen the contents of some of my caches go from great to mediocre thanks to people who take the best stuff and leave crap. If you can't trade evenly or up, TNLN!

Are you sure that the stuff is really lesser value? Some kids play longer with the box than the toy.

--The moratorium on virtual caches. Enough is enough--TPTB need to realize that there are some spots where you just CAN'T put a micro.

There is no moratorium on virtual caches, but they are trying hard to improve the quality of the caches. It would be great to see all perfect caches, but there is no way to even say what good is. If the finder gets something significant from the experience, that it is certainly a good cache. It is hard for me to imagine a place that is so useless that no one would appreciate it. Even as I sit here in an airport with cold food and warm beer, they do have free internet. There's good everywhere, if you take long enough to find it.

So, I agree, there should be no moratorium on anything. You should be required to use your judgement to decide if you want to attempt the cache.

Cache Maine
07-15-2004, 08:36 AM
Is it just me, or are people holding on pretty tightly to these Yellow Jeeps once they get one? I just did a search (the same search I've run just about daily for the last several weeks) for a 100 mile radius of Bangor for a jeep. There's only one, and that one is stranded on the deserted "Castaway" Island cache. Isn't the whole point to get these in as many caches (hands) as possible?

Anybody have any tips or tricks for nabbing one of these?

brdad
07-15-2004, 02:54 PM
Is it just me, or are people holding on pretty tightly to these Yellow Jeeps once they get one? I just did a search (the same search I've run just about daily for the last several weeks) for a 100 mile radius of Bangor for a jeep. There's only one, and that one is stranded on the deserted "Castaway" Island cache. Isn't the whole point to get these in as many caches (hands) as possible?

Anybody have any tips or tricks for nabbing one of these?
Moving the Jeeps is one part of the mission, so that more people can submit photos and essays in hopes of winning a prize.

I still have two I have yet to release to the wild. I meant to place one up north, but forgot it. I might be inclined to place one in a local (Bangor area) cache ... Hmmm, you haven't found Battleship yet...

Pooh and friends
07-15-2004, 05:56 PM
I still have two I have yet to release to the wild. I meant to place one up north, but forgot it. I might be inclined to place one in a local (Bangor area) cache ... Hmmm, you haven't found Battleship yet...

This will most likely be a dump question but here it is. Are they the two showing in the 2nd Annual BBQ Event Cache? I was wondering if there really is a cache left there after the event to visit. It was suprising to me that they havnt been scooped up yet if there is.

brdad
07-15-2004, 08:29 PM
This will most likely be a dump question but here it is. Are they the two showing in the 2nd Annual BBQ Event Cache? I was wondering if there really is a cache left there after the event to visit. It was suprising to me that they havnt been scooped up yet if there is.

Nope, they are not the two left at the event cache. Evidently two people who were given the Jeeps by JustJen have not logged them out yet. The Jeeps I personally handed to people at the event were never logged into the event to begin with.

Pooh and friends
07-16-2004, 02:27 AM
OK that answered that dumb (I'll spell it right this time) question. Thanks for the heads up.
I do agree with Cameoooooo on the fact that there doesn't seem to be many Jeep TBs in Maine yet. It really suprised me to find the one at Harbor View that I logged.

Haffy
07-16-2004, 08:46 AM
I think probably Brdad could answer this question as to how many Jeep TB's there were in Maine. If I am not mistaken he was sent the state's allocation of 40 TB's and most of them he distributed at the event cache in Augusta on the 19 th of June. He also has placed many himself all over the state and I think in another thread he said he might have had 2 left,and was placing them in caches soon.I myself had 3 of them and placed them in caches the following week and they were picked up fairly promptly. Just keep a lookout and maybe one will show up near you soon.I kept mine for a few days so I could get a good photo to submit for the Jeep contest and they came out good too. Don't forget to vote for your favorite when the time arrives.

brdad
07-16-2004, 09:14 AM
Yep, Haffy, that's right. 40 for Maine, I have no idea where they are right now, short of the two I have.

parmachenee
07-16-2004, 05:48 PM
Cameo said: "There's only one, and that one is stranded on the deserted "Castaway" Island cache."

And I hope someone has as much fun getting that jeep as I had placing it there. It's all about having fun, right? :) I do have two jeeps and was going to place them in caches here in Rochester, NY, but since they are in such great demand in Maine, I'll bring them back with me for caches in Maine.

Haffy
07-16-2004, 06:06 PM
Hey ,You guys new grandparents yet?

RanMan22
07-16-2004, 06:18 PM
(Hangs head in shame)....I still have two Jeep TB's from the picnic that I haven't placed. Been on vacation as well as being to busy to Geocache. I'll place them, hopefully, in the next couple of weeks. If worse comes to worse, I'll drop them in caches in Bangor that I've already been to.

Humbly,

-RanMan22

Haffy
07-16-2004, 07:23 PM
Hey Ranman,Cameooooo would really love that....lol

Cache Maine
07-16-2004, 08:29 PM
Yeah I would...so watch for a big white SUV following you all over town. :p

parmachenee
07-16-2004, 09:19 PM
Yup...grandparents again...as of Tuesday night. A boy, 7 lbs, 20 inches. Name is Landon Frank Cullen. :D